Monday, May 9, 2011

Poetry, Spreadsheets and Giving Up

I have a rather extensive Excel spreadsheet that I use to track my submissions. I have developed this spreadsheet over time, adding new worksheets to track responses, resubmission requests, markets I might try, postal vs. online submissions, and how many poems I write each month.

Today I added a new worksheet that totals the number of times I've submitted a particular poem since 2009 (when I began submitting) and how many times it's been rejected. I currently have a poem called "How to Handle Bossy People" that I've submitted to 28 markets, four of which are current. The other 24 are rejections. This poem has the most rejections by a lot, the next being a persona poem called "Dies Irae" that's been rejected 14 times. After that, I have five more poems that have been rejected more than 10 times.

My spreadsheet, or evidence that I have far too much time on my hands.

I'm sure not everyone is as obsessed with tracking and numbers as I am. However, I can't help but wonder, how many times do I let a poem get rejected before I decide to stop submitting? Sometimes I just naturally stop submitting a poem because I grow tired of it, but I've also noticed that I've been too hard on some poems. A few have only gotten one or two rejections before I stopped submitting them. But I clearly believe in my "Bossy" poem, since I didn't notice until now. I think it deserves a home. But 24 noes seems like a lot.

Let's say I decide to stop sending this poem out for a while. Should I revise it? Or should I give up completely? What do you do when you notice a pattern of rejection for a particular poem? How many rejections equals giving up? If you revise, how do you approach it? What are your favorite drastic revision techniques?

Dear Outer Space

Welcome to Dear Outer Space. A space where my inner space is made outer. Where I attempt to explain the inner and outer with words. My bellybutton has been both an innie and an outie. I almost never rhyme. Don't forget your helmet. Avoid black holes on Tuesdays.